


Magnolias

by dragonq666



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow and the Canaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Hanahaki Disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:47:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26420614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonq666/pseuds/dragonq666
Summary: Laurel can't breathe.
Relationships: Dinah Drake/Earth-2 Laurel Lance
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	Magnolias

Laurel gasps.

Flowers are blooming inside her, and it's getting harder to breathe, and she wants to open her chest and pull them out by the roots. But she can't. This will kill Laurel faster than the disease, which means less time with _her_.

She doesn't understand how she could fall in love like this. To the point of insanity, to the point of wanting to see _her_ and be with _her_ every second. To hear _her_ laugh and _her_ sleepy mumble something like "Get your ass off the couch, Lance, and make me a coffee" in the morning.

She doesn't know what she's done to deserve this.

But...

Laurel coughs, and bloodied petals fall into her palm. The lungs burn with fire, and the flames slowly spread through the body, covering it completely, as if burning it alive. Laurel is hot and cold at the same time. Such a wild contrast. Only _she_ could fix it. _She_ could have saved her.

But _she_ won't. While Laurel loves _her_ to the point of stupefaction, to the point of trembling, _she_ feels nothing in return. _She_ thinks of her as just a friend, maybe even the best, and Laurel is grateful. But that's what kills.

Laurel has flowers in her heart, and she's sure they're magnolias. _Her_ favorites. Laurel could have picked a bunch of red chrysanthemums and given them to _her_ so that she could say everything without saying a word. To make _her_ understand, to ... not accept, because these feelings are not mutual. Laurel knows it's not.

The cough becomes stronger, not the petals, the whole buds are falling on her hands. Laurel collects them and hides them as far away as possible so that _she_ won't find them, won't ask them, because Laurel doesn't see any way this conversation could go right. It would have ended, and Laurel would have ended with it.

But at one point, she can't hide it.

They stand together at the kitchen table and talk quietly, sometimes taking a sip of wine. Time passes so calm and peaceful, Laurel wants it to last forever. But suddenly her body is shaken by such a violent cough that she drops the glass, which shatters as soon as it reaches the floor, and the red liquid spreads around like blood; and falls to her knees. Cream-pink blossoms fly in her palm, clogging Laurel's throat and lungs, and the world around her begins to fade. She knows this is the end.

Dinah drops to the floor next to her and grabs her by the shoulders.

"Laurel, what is this? What's wrong with you?"

But the flowers inside don't let her say a word. She just bends over in another fit of coughing.

"Laurel? What's it? Come on, answer me!"

She can't.

The colours fade, and the body tends somewhere to the side. Dinah turns her to face her and shouts something, but Laurel can't hear it anymore. The sounds disappear. All that remains is the smell, sweet and slightly creamy. That's what magnolia smells like. That's what Dinah smells like.

As if through a dense cocoon, Dinah's words reach her, already hoarse.

"Laurel, no! Don't die, please don't die! Do you hear me? Don't you dare! Don't you dare! I love you! I love you. Love, love, love. Don't you dare die! Please don't die..."

And suddenly the flowers disappear from her lungs, as if they never existed. Only the magnolias in the heart remain. Only Dinah remains. Only love remains.


End file.
